Review: Papa Hemingway in Cuba

Imagine having Ernest Hemingway as your mentor. It would probably lead to a pretty good story, right? In the case of writer Denne Bart Petitclerc, who could actually say that the former was true for him, it is surprising that the latter is not so true -- at least not in this adaptation.

PAPA HEMINGWAY IN CUBA, the first film shot in Cuba since the revolution in 1959, has all the qualities of a good story, but seems to be disassembled. Giovanni Ribisi plays Ed Myers, a reporter for the Miami Globe in the late 1950s. In a voice-over narration typical of a memoir, Ed describes the events that led him to meet author Ernest Hemingway (Adrian Sparks). The events match the experiences of the late Petitclerc: he writes Hemingway a letter, describing how the author inspired him to the point where he is today, but he doesn't send the letter -- until his girlfriend, Debbie (Minka Kelly), sends it for him.

In a surprising turn of events, Hemingway responds, calling Ed up and inviting him to Havana to go fishing. This is the start of a mentoring relationship, as Ed continuously travels to visit Papa -- as Hemingway ask him to call him -- and his wife, Mary (Joely Richardson), in effect snubbing Debbie as she tries to connect with him. In several sentimental scenes, Ed describes how he learned to write through Hemingway, learning spelling and grammar by copying his works. But things in Havana are not as perfect as they seem -- as Ed gets to know his new mentor, he realizes that the man's mental health engulfs him -- and the government's plot to ruin the famous author also comes into play.

Petitclerc may have mastered grammar and spelling from Hemingway, but he certainly didn't learn about plot structure. For the first hour of the film, there is essentially no conflict; and the second hour consists of several conflicts vying for attention. Not only that, but the characters' development is weak -- Ed is a pretty flat character, despite a few scruffy attempts to give him an arc concerning marriage and commitment, and Hemingway himself has no immediate impact upon introduction. There are a few good one-liners, and some pretty Havana scenery, but overall, the film is significantly underwhelming -- an irony given that it's about one of the most celebrated authors in American history.

One can only hope that Ribisi and co. find better crafted roles in the future. For those who love Hemingway, you may get a small nugget of enjoyment from watching, but don't expect to be wowed. PAPA HEMINGWAY IN CUBA is playing at the Midtown Cinema starting April 29th.

Review: Louder Than Bombs

When a loved one dies, grief tends not to come all at once. Years later, you may feel stricken with the sudden memory of that person, or perhaps it has been a constant for all those years. This concept is played out in director Joachim Trier's LOUDER THAN BOMBS, a story of a family grieving their lost loved one.

After a lifelong career in photojournalism, Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert) quit to be with her family -- and after a short time, died in a car crash. The suspicion that her death was a suicide is kept quiet by her family -- her husband, Gene (Gabriel Byrne), and her oldest son, Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) -- though her youngest son, Conrad (Devin Druid), has been told that it was an accident. When a friend of the family (a journalist who traveled with Isabelle) decides to write a retrospective article sharing this information, Gene and Jonah must decide how to tell Conrad the bad news.

What follows is a very powerful story with fascinating characters. With a multitude of shades, there is undoubtedly a character that you will relate to: the single father desperately trying to connect with his son; the boy trying to sort out his weird, adolescent feelings and teenage angst; the young man trying to avoid his new family to wrestle with the past. None of them are perfect -- but all of them are painfully real.

The cinematography sets a very intimate atmosphere, a decision not unfamiliar to Trier, whose past work (OSLO, AUGUST 31ST) is just as powerful. The only drawback to the film is its use of dreams, which narratively are used to tap into characters' inner conflict, but which never go beyond the conversations into which they are introduced. But it allows for quiet moments amidst the cast, who meshed beautifully. Byrne and Druid give compelling performances, but Eisenberg steals the show, giving possibly the most complex performance of his career with a character who is so easily lovable and hatable all at once.

This isn't a happy film, by any means, with a cut-and-dry story -- but it is a refreshing glimpse into reality. LOUDER THAN BOMBS is playing at Midtown Cinema starting 4/22!

Review: Remember

There will always be films involving the Holocaust, or at least its survivors. But sometimes, a story surfaces that departs from the formulaic Holocaust story that so many filmmakers gravitate towards. This is the case with REMEMBER, director Atom Egoyan's latest drama/thriller.

Zev (Christopher Plummer) is one of the few remaining survivors of Auschwitz. We first meet Zev in a nursing home about a week after his wife, Ruth, has died. One of the other men in the home, Max (Martin Landau), who was also with Zev in Auschwitz, says that he has a mission for him, one that they discussed previously -- of course, because of Zev's dementia, he can't remember the conversation (he can barely remember his wife died), so Max gives him a letter explaining everything.

Zev takes the letter's advice and escapes from the nursing home, taking off on a muddled roadtrip that causes some concern: it doesn't quite seem like a good idea to send a man with dementia on a mission that spans several days, as, in very much a wink to the protagonist of MEMENTO, Zev seems to forget where he is and what he's doing at each junction of the journey, relying on crossed off check-lists and notes on his arms to get the job done. Meanwhile, his son, Charles (Henry Czerny) tries to track him down, unaware of his father's mission.

What exactly is his mission? Max has tracked down the name of an Auschwitz guard who took on the identity of an executed prisoner in order to escape after the war ended. He now sends Zev to find every Rudy Kurlander in a (pretty large) radius, determine which one it is -- and then kill him.

What results is a pseudo-thriller with a splash of mystery. Each Rudy Kurlander that Zev meets adds a different shade to the story, twisting and turning the plot to slowly reveal new information. Plummer does a fantastic job with his role, leaving you genuinely afraid for him in his uneven state -- though there are several moments where his fragility is the least of his concerns.

REMEMBER starts at Midtown Cinema on April 8! Don't miss this one!

Review: Hello, My Name is Doris

It starts with death. How's that for a comedy? At the funeral of her mother, Doris (Sally Field), with her cat-eye glasses and added hair piece, stands out as zany compared to her insincere brother and sister-in-law ("We're all pretty devastated, so..."). Though Michael Showalter's HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS starts with a caricature, it ends with a full-fledged character -- and a heartfelt one at that.

What Doris lacks in backbone, she more than makes up for in her unique, 50's retro style -- it's not just a fashion statement, it's an iron grip on the past. This nearly-retired woman has to take a ferry to work every day but refuses to move out of her mother's house; though her wardrobe gives an air of nonconformity at a surface level, we quickly come to realize that Doris gets caught up in the smallest of things. Having grown up with and cared for a hoarder to her dying day (her mother), Doris has developed a bit of an obsessive personality -- and though her fiesty best friend, Roz (Tyne Daly) is willing to accept this part of her, it leads her to all sorts of trouble the day a new employee starts at the office.

Young, handsome, and full of that youthful, hipster zest that has caused an avalanche of tropes in recent years, John Fremont (Max Greenfield) immediately catches Doris's eye. The problem is, he's in his twenties, she's in her fifties, and they have completely different ideas of what they want from a relationship with each other: while John seeks friendship in the office, Doris wants a romance. As she chases after her daydreams, it becomes apparent that her newfound freedom to focus on her life rather than someone else's is exhilarating -- but overwhelming.

DORIS is adorable, and laugh-out-loud funny; Field has a lot of room to work her comedic magic in this role, but just as thoroughly builds Doris's complexities. Greenfield is a delight, and Daly serves as the anchor in this charming comedy. HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS starts at the Midtown Cinema on April 1 - make sure to check this one out!

Review: Eye in the Sky

Drones are a controversial subject in today's society, to be sure. So the idea of tackling such a subject in a film must have been a daunting task -- it would either be very biased, or attempt to remain neutral (but still most likely be affected by a bias).

I am pleased to say that director Gavin Hood's EYE IN THE SKY is pretty terribly balanced in this regard -- and it packs one hell of a punch. Taking place mainly in Kenya, the film covers a covert military operation with an outcome that is heavily influenced by the use of drone technology, detailing the risks involved.

There are several major players in this game of stakes. Colonel Powell (Helen Mirren), a British military intelligence officer in charge of tracking a group of terrorists under Al Shabab, leads the secret drone mission to capture the terrorists in a safehouse in Nairobi. Lieutenant General Frank Benson (one of the late Alan Rickman's last roles) is back in the safety of the UK office with several government officials, monitoring the mission via conference call. Private Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is assigned to pilot the "eye in the sky", with Private Carrie Gershwin (Phoebe Fox) as the (somewhat tacked on) moral support, maneuvering the remote drone while the soldiers on the ground do their work. Jama Farah (Barkhad Abdi) is on the ground, getting a view that the drone is unable to pick up with a remote control beetle.

When it is discovered that the group is preparing two suicide bombings, the mission quickly changes its objective to sending in a drone to kill the terrorists.

But when a young girl sets up shop within the kill zone, selling bread, the tone of the entire mission shifts: where there was already an issue with the British leading an attack on friendly territory, there is now the question of civilian casualties -- a higher risk for the "propaganda war" when there are children involved. Tensions rise as responsibility gets passed around like a hot potato -- no one seems to want to make the final decision except for the people who don't have that ability.

The idea of comfortable people shirking responsibility is a concept that runs strong throughout this film: the juxtaposition of Lt. General Benson trying to buy the "right" doll for his granddaughter cut next to the raggedy doll in the Kenyan girl's bedroom is a clear sign of a disparity in privilege. The debate is presented in a fairly even manner: there are those who would rather wait for the girl to move, while others believe that the life of one individual does not stand against the lives of many.

Though the fairly obvious choice -- to wait until the terrorists actually start to leave the house to hit their mark -- seems to be overlooked, the strongly debated issue of drone warfare is gracefully tackled (the scale does seem to tip in favor of it, but it beautifully presents the gravity of the situation). It shows the people affected by drone warfare -- most significantly through the little girl that is unknowingly causing such a fuss for the mission: a reminiscence of the little girl in Schindler's list, she puts a human spin on the drone conflict.

This film may be about a divisive topic, but the way it is handled is well worth the watch. EYE IN THE SKY plays at Midtown Cinema, starting 4/1!